All songs by Mike Oldfield except I Give Myself Away, written by William McDowell.

Notes

For a few years leading up to the recording of Man on the Rocks, Mike had been talking in interviews of wanting to do a rock album with all live instruments. Initially, it appeared he was wanting to play all the instruments apart from drums, and he also mentioned the possibility of working with a cast of well known guest vocalists.

The project appeared to gain a new momentum with the nomination of Stephen Lipson as co-producer. He presided over sessions in LA, while Mike provided his input from the Bahamas, via Skype.

One of Mike's original ideas for the album had been to have a number of different guest vocalists sing the lead vocals, but eventually he and Stephen Lipson settled on Luke Spiller of The Struts (a suggestion of the record company) as the sole lead vocalist.

The seeds of what was to become Man on the Rocks seem to have been sowed in early 2010, when Mike's then-wife Fanny revealed that he wanted to record a 'Telecaster' album. While he later abandoned this idea, it seemed like the concept of an album that was more guitar driven stayed in his mind, morphing into the idea of a rock album. He set about recording a set of rock song demos in his home studio, with the help of drummer John Robinson (recorded by Steve MacMillan at Steakhouse Studio in Los Angeles, with Mike producing via Skype).

Mike's initial demos, with himself singing, were released as part of a three CD collectors' edition set, while two of John Robinson's initial drum tracks - for Irene and Dreaming in the Wind - and a number of Mike's initial parts, were used on the final album.

Personnel

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Steve MacMillan (engineer)

Engineer at the Steak House Studio, LA, for the drums on Irene and Dreaming in the Wind

Player of Uillean Pipes and Low Whistles, born in Dublin, Ireland, founded the band Moving Hearts before going on to become a solo artist. Davy has played on numerous soundtracks and also featured on Riverdance, as well as having collaborated with many other artists, such as Van Morrison, Kate Bush, Steve Winwood and Enya. Davy Spillane also makes his own pipes and whistles.

Metallic Red Telecaster with maple fretboard. It has Duncan Designed pickups - a humbucker in the neck position and a stacked humbucker in the bridge position. It also features a reversed control plate.